Lame McDonalds move

I'm coming home from a late night working (1:30 AM) last night and I realize I forgot to eat anything for dinner. Since I was way out in Oldham Co. I thought I'd zip through the drive thru at a McD's, get a $1 double cheese and fill the whole in my gut that needed silencing rather than drive home and fix something at 2 AM. I go through the drive in and the first thing I notice is that the formerly $1 double cheeseburger is now $1.19. Oh well, OK. (Yes yes I am sometimes cheap cheap but I was looking for fuel not food and in those cases the cheaper the better.) So I order my double cheeseburger at the drive thru, there's a long pause and then I'm told,
"I'm sorry, we don't sell double cheeseburgers after midnight."
I ask, "Do you sell Big Macs?"
"Yes."
"Do you sell cheeseburgers?"
"Yes"
"May I ask why you don't sell double cheeseburgers after midnight?"
(stammers) "Ummmm... well, I'm not sure, we just don't."
I was so irritated I said, " thanks anyway" and drove home.

Does that menu decision make sense to anyone?

It doesn't make any sense, but reminds me of one of my favorite film scenes (from Five Easy Pieces):

Bobby: I'd like an omelet, plain, and a chicken salad sandwich on wheat toast, no mayonnaise, no butter, no lettuce. And a cup of coffee.
Waitress: A #2, chicken salad sand. Hold the butter, the lettuce, the mayonnaise, and a cup of coffee. Anything else?
Bobby: Yeah, now all you have to do is hold the chicken, bring me the toast, give me a check for the chicken salad sandwich, and you haven't broken any rules.
Waitress: You want me to hold the chicken, huh?
Bobby: I want you to hold it between your knees.

To me it sounds like they want to make more money off the late night drunks, forcing them to purchase the bigger ticket items like big macs and angus burgers.

Found this link but not sure if this is a corporate decision or left up to each franchisee.
http://www.volanteonline.com/news/mcdon ... s-1.905174

An unfortunate decision, but sensible in my opinion.

[Robin Garr]

Maybe limiting the menu to keep things easy for the night crew, so they don't have to invest as much in training for the night crew?

Trying to get an plain iced coffee last year at McD led to a replay of the Five Easy Pieces scene- and they still wouldn't do it! Haven't been back since.

I think it's just a way to make the economics of staying open all night work. I imagine it's difficult to staff the midnight-to-6 a.m. shift, so they need to make it as simple as possible.

I'm sorry, I don't understand the difficulty of putting two hamburgers on a bun or one. In my opinion it has nothing to do with staff or training, but making more money. On two occasions I have had MD make me an Americano. I told them to put the espresso in a cup and instead of filling it up with steamed milk to fill it up with hot water. It worked. Not sure, why they couldn't make an iced coffee though. You have to get someone who can think outside of the written guidelines and actually use their initiative haha

To reference the price issue,here is what I came up with.

I read that a double cheeseburger is different than a mcdouble . A mcdouble should still be a buck while the double cheeseburger is more like 1.25.
link
http://consumerist.com/2008/12/the-new- ... -wild.html

I did not find anything as to the late night ban on selling doubles.

Found this link but not sure if this is a corporate decision or left up to each franchisee.
http://www.volanteonline.com/news/mcdon ... s-1.905174

OK I read this and it explains what happens, and to some degree why. Still, if they are limiting the menu by making mass quantities of fewer items I'm left to wonder how long they've been sitting under the heat lamp and how is that better customer service? It sounds as if MCDs is saying the late night crowd (of which, admittedly, I'm usually not a member) deserves less than the day time crowd. I think they need to be reminded as to why they became so popular in the first place so many years ago. Or better yet, just back off the late night crowd all together and give it back to (gulp) White Castle.

'm sorry, I don't understand the difficulty of putting two hamburgers on a bun or one. In my opinion it has nothing to do with staff or training, but making more money.

That's what I was thinking. If you're making cheeseburgers anyway, why can't you make double cheeseburgers?

[Robin Garr]

That's what I was thinking. If you're making cheeseburgers anyway, why can't you make double cheeseburgers?

The night shift is limited to a short selection of pre-prepped choices made up before the earlier shift left?

John is spot on with his McD research.

When we lived in Maine we didn't have many options for cheap prepared foods that I could stuff down my gullet when out on Saturday errands, so I would occasionally stop for a cheezboigie or two off the dollar menu. One week I noticed that cheeseburgers were no longer available. That's when I found out that in their infinite wisdom, McD's replaced the double cheeseburger on the buck menu with the McDouble. Yes, America, they now charge 19 cents for that second freaking slice of cheese.

Of course the saving grace of these sandwiches are the slices (2) of pickle, the ketchup and mustard condiments. Otherwise, they would be truly devoid of flavor.

So it might be interesting to repeat your trek through the drive through the next time you're working late, and this time request a McDouble.

On the other hand, it just might be easier to find a better alternative. Sliders, maybe?

cheezboigie

I love this!

On the other hand, it just might be easier to find a better alternative. Sliders, maybe?

Yup, I agree. By that time I was wishing I had taken Westport Road home instead of 146.